Monday, March 1, 2010

Red River

The film, Red River, clearly depicts a power struggle between the two dominant males, Tom Dunson and Mathew Garth. As the two men clash throughout the movie, they both depict strong authoritative attitudes. However, the assumption that it is a battle between opposing alpha male cowboys must not be made without further examination.


As Matheson explains, the alpha male cowboy embodies the "modern notion that, in America, the time for heroes and heroism ended long ago." This new antihero does not abide by the classic deontological way of thinking. He is his own moral center, living life according to a the-end-justifies-the-means philosophy. In Red River, it is easy to identify such a concept in the character of Tom Dunson. He has a job to do, and will do whatever it takes to get it done. He pushes his men to exhaustion and kills anyone who causes him any trouble. "To be a man in the Western," explains Tompkins, "is to seem to grow out of the environment, which means to be hard, to be tough, to be unforgiving." The ruthless Dunson feels sympathy for no one, only a fanatical drive to fulfill his duty. Mathew Garth, on the other hand, consistently demonstrates mercy towards the other characters, putting the welfare of the people at a higher priority than the duty at hand. However admirable, Garth's compassion and consideration are attributes considered a liability by alpha male cowboy standards.


In addition to a certain level of moral ambiguity, the alpha male cowboy is free of any social ties. Dunson demonstrates this sense of complete independence at the very start of the film when he abandons the wagon train and the woman he loves in order to pursue his own ventures. The alpha male cowboy, Tompkins explains, avoids anything that "threatens to entrap the hero in the very things the genre most wishes to avoid: intimacy, mutual dependence, a network of social and emotional responsibilities." In contrast, throughout the film, Garth becomes increasingly intimate with a woman, Tess, and is insinuated to marry her at the very end. Therefore, although Red River may, at first, appear to portray two alpha male cowboys, upon closer examination; it is apparent that only Tom Dunson upholds the unique antihero qualifications.

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